[Rhode Island School of Design] Ben Hwang, a RISD senior and former officer of the school’s e’Ship program, shared the following insight on entrepreneurship & design: “A designer’s process to solving problems is inherently advantageous in entrepreneurship because it is so heavily centered around empathizing with people. To successfully innovate and survive, businesses need to put themselves in the shoes of the customer to resonate with them on an emotional level, which is the cornerstone of design-thinking.

With the advent of things like AI, Big Data, and the Internet of Things, success has never been so predicated on understanding and contextualizing human behavior. At RISD, we are trained to listen and consult with users at every stage of the process, and we integrate this with entrepreneurial practices through our projects at E’Ship.” For more info visit: http://www.risdeship.com or check out an informative student-developed video: https://vimeo.com/107216203